START NOW
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, February 9, 2026 – It’s a terrible thing to waste the time that God’s allotted you, to do the things he’s told you not to do and not to do those things he’s told you specifically to do. You’ll not be held guiltless at the Judgement for wasting your allotted time and for disobeying God. Maybe you think you’re somehow exempt, but so too did the children of Abraham, who thought that by being children of Abraham they could bypass Judgement, but Jesus told them they were wrong. You, too, are wrong if you think that by virtue of being “saved” you’re home-free, no questions asked. If you were genuinely born-again, you’d know there’s no guaranteed ticket Home. There’s the grace of God that you live by now and the mercy of God at your death. Nowhere in scripture are you guaranteed Paradise.
But still, you do play a role in getting Home, and don’t let anyone convince you otherwise. God wants to see that you want what he’s offering more than what the devil is offering, and you’ll be tested to that effect. Anyone can say they believe in God or they believe in Jesus or they want to go to Heaven, but it’s in the doing that your heart is revealed. Not in the saying but in the doing, especially your response to God’s correction and to doing what’s right when everyone around you is given the go-ahead to do what’s wrong. In that situation in particular – when the law of the land is contrary to God’s law, or when the will of the majority is set against you – God watches closely to see what you’ll do. This is a big part of how you earn your ticket home: by choosing to do what’s right in God’s eyes even when the world punishes you for it.
You cannot get to Heaven by convincing yourself that you’re going, any more than you can be born-again by convincing yourself that you’re reborn. Jesus says the Spirit goes where it wills; God determines who is reborn, not you or your pastor. God decides who is born-again and God himself performs the rebirth, which is an exorcism of demonic spirits followed by an inrushing of God’s Holy Spirit into the reborn soul. If you were genuinely born-again, you’d know that the Holy Spirit will not dwell in the same soul as demons.
It’s a terrible thing to waste the grace of time that God’s allotted you. Your sole focus should be God. Your sole ambition should be aligning your will with God’s, like Jesus did. If you’re not doing that to the best of your ability, start now.
THE GIFT
HALIFAX, Nova Scotia, February 4, 2026 – There was a guy, a few weeks before Christmas, who was slumped in an old manual wheelchair at what is probably the coldest, windiest, and busiest intersection in Halifax. That day it was also snowing. But the old man didn’t seem to notice the snow, or if he did, didn’t care. He was on a mission. He was crying over and over again “Jesus is coming!”, and he’d obviously cried it so many times by the time I’d arrived, his voice was a croak. And yet despite the cold and the wind and vocal cords strained to breaking, the man didn’t abort his mission. He continued to preach. In response, the throngs of people hurrying by didn’t so much as lift their eyes from their phones. To them, he wasn’t there.
I stopped for a minute to listen to him. He was elderly and gaunt and looked ill. He also wasn’t dressed for the cold. I thought at first he was just another panhandler like the dozens of panhandlers plying their trade along that busy strip, but I didn’t see a cup or upended hat near him. He wasn’t begging. He was giving rather than taking.
Nearly two months later, I can still see him in his wheelchair with the snow and crowds swirling around him. I can still hear his voice. He hasn’t been back to that corner since, or at least I haven’t seen him. Maybe he’s moved on to another intersection elsewhere in the city, or maybe that was the only time he’d preached. Maybe some force drove him out into the bitter cold and wind that day to cry those few words over and over, some force that he didn’t quite understand and yet obeyed. I’m glad he did.
Because even though he isn’t there, I still see him. I still hear him. His simple message still rings in my head loud and clear: “JESUS IS COMING!” And whether Jesus comes today or tomorrow or in another 2000 years, he is coming. That is a guarantee. And whether we receive his coming with joy or with shame – well, that’s the whole point of the old man’s message.
A BORN-AGAIN BELIEVER 